Monday, May 26, 2014

Thank you for those men and women whose love for nation, family, and freedom has led them to give their lives in service to our country.

Thank you for those men and women whose love for nation, family, and freedom leads them to work behind the scenes to make and keep peace so that more men and women won’t have to give their lives in service to our country.

Have mercy on those whose greed, hate, narrow-mindedness, and lust for power make it necessary for our men and women to give their lives in service to our country.

Give us hearts that tend toward mercy, reconciliation, understanding, and peace that we might be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Help us to wonder
even more;
let us marvel
over the wonder of you,
over the wonders of your Creation,
and
over the wonders of your grace.

We worry about so much
because we can’t see
into the future.

Help us to worry
much less;
let us instead trust in you
and
do what we can
to address problems
in a constructive way.

We wish for so much
because we can’t see
the value in
what we already have.

Help us to wish
less and to wish for less;
help us be content with what we have,
grateful that our needs are fulfilled,
and
to work to meet
good and noble goals
rather than
wishing that they
could be achieved.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Thank you that, when
we were confronted with
the reality of death and with
the anxiety that it brings to life,
you did something about it
through the resurrection of Jesus.

Thank you for
every opportunity that we,
when we are confronted with
the realities of death and life
that are all around us,
have to do something about them
through the presence and power
of the resurrected Christ.

Help us to be as proactive and bold
about human crises
as you were
in the resurrection of Jesus.

Inspire us to take the power
of the resurrection that
we have experienced and
turn it loose in the world and
in the lives of those around us.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Thank you for the physical breath
that you give us to breathe.
Let us breathe it in
slowly,
deeply, and
gratefully.

While the air you give us to breathe is good,
we have a tendency
because of selfishness or carelessness
to do things
to mess it up.
Help us to tend to it as best we can
so that it will be
the cleanest and healthiest air it can be
not just for our sake
but for everybody’s sake.

Thank you for the spiritual breath
that you give us to breathe.
Let us breathe it in
slowly,
deeply, and
gratefully.

While the spirit you give us to breathe is good,
we have a tendency
because of selfishness or carelessness
to do things
that cause us not to experience
its effects as well as we could.
Help us to keep ourselves
as open to the spirit as we can
not just for our sake
but for everybody’s sake.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Some of it comes
in the natural course of things—
someone lives a good long life
and then it is enough
and so they die.

Thank you for such deaths.

Some of it comes
in ways that seem to us out of order—
someone dies young or unexpectedly or tragically.

Thank you for the ways you help us
to live on in the wake of such deaths.

Some of it comes
as the result of cruel conditions or cruel choices or both—
children die from malnutrition and disease
because of famine or war
and because we who could help don’t
or people suffer
because of misguided and misapplied political or religious beliefs.

Thank you that there are ways we can help
bring life to bear in the midst of such death
if we are willing to give ourselves up—
if we are willing to take on pain and death that others might live.

There is so much death around us.
But there is so much life within us.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

So since you
have raised us
from death to life and
have taken us
from the darkness
into the light,
help us to walk
in the light.

Help us to walk.

When we were dead
in our sin we
could not even walk;
now we are alive
by your grace
so we can walk—
and run and jump!
Thank you
that we can walk,
that we can keep
moving forward;
cause us to take
full advantage of
the opportunity.

Help us to walk
in the light.

Thank you that
by your grace
your path for us
is bathed in your light.
Show us when
we veer off the path
you would have us walk;
let us be alert to
when we are treading
toward darkness.

Thank you that
you have released us
from the darkness and
have put us in the light.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Forgive us for when we
in one moment
profess belief in
resurrection
and in the next moment
think, talk, or act like
we don’t believe anything
can be done to counteract
the forces of death
that are at work
all around us.

Let our belief in
resurrection
be a belief in
its present and ongoing power
and let that belief show itself
in the ways
we think, talk, and do something
about the life-draining forces and events
that are all around us
and that are all over this world.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Keep us mindful
of the fact that
resurrection cannot occur
unless death occurs.

As we progress in walking
in newness of life, show us
how to let you put to death
those ways of
thinking,
speaking,
and
behaving
that drain the life from us
rather than reflect and enhance
the newness of life
in which we are growing.

Put to death
any arrogance,
any vindictiveness,
any envy,
any self-centeredness,
any fear,
and
any hypocrisy
that may remain in us
and
hinder us from truly
walking in newness of life …

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

We acknowledge
that we live
in the meantime
between
the resurrection of Jesus
and
our own resurrection.

We also acknowledge
that in this meantime
we have been
and
are being raised
with Christ
to walk
in newness of life
through him.

Keep us mindful
of the fact that
we are not just
to wait for
our resurrected life
but
that we are to grow
in living
the resurrected life.

So in this meantime between
the resurrection of Jesus
and
our own resurrection,
help us to become
more and more able
and willing
to live the life
that you have
through the power of resurrection
given us to live
here and now.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

We praise you today
because you raised
your Son Jesus Christ
from the dead
and
because, being raised,
he is here
with us.

We praise you today
because in your Son Jesus Christ
you will raise us
to new life
and
because even now
you are
raising us
to new life.

Let our praise of you
lead us to reach out
and touch
other lives
with the new life
that is ours
in your Son Jesus Christ
that they might also
know you in the new life
that comes through
knowing him
in the power of
his resurrection.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

As best as we can understand
from your Book,
our life after
the great future resurrection
will be one of
uninterrupted joy,
unlimited understanding, and
unhindered fellowship.

For now, though, even as
we live lives in which
we have been raised
to walk in newness of life,
we live with
interrupted joy,
limited understanding,
and
hindered fellowship.

Still, because
the resurrected Christ
lives in us, we do have
joy in you,
understanding of you, and
fellowship with you—
far, far more
joy,
understanding,
and
fellowship
than we would have
without his presence
in us.

Remind us of how wonderful
our admittedly limited life is
because of the resurrected Christ
and of how unspeakably wonderful
our unlimited life will be
because of the resurrected Christ.

And in him, let
our joy,
our understanding,
and
our fellowship
increase
with every passing moment.

Let us pray ...

About Prayer 365

The prayers that appear at Prayer 365 are written and published by Michael L. Ruffin. Permission is granted to use or adapt these prayers in public worship with the condition that if a prayer is reproduced in a printed order of worship attribution is given. Permission is also granted to link to a prayer at this site provided that a link back to this blog is provided. All other rights are reserved. All Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.